Maturity of believers to increase over generations
The Bahá'ís of the future will be a hundred times more mature, better balanced, and more exemplary in their conduct[edit]
"The primary reason for anyone becoming a Bahá'í must of course be because he has come to believe the doctrines, the teachings and the Order of Bahá'u'lláh are the correct thing for this stage in the world's evolution. The Bahá'ís themselves as a body have one great advantage: They are sincerely convinced Bahá'u'lláh is right; they have a plan; and they are trying to follow it. But to pretend they are perfect, that the Bahá'ís of the future will not be a hundred times more mature, better balanced, more exemplary in their conduct, would be foolish."
- (From a letter written on behalf of the Guardian to an individual believer, July 5, 1947: Teaching Work Among the Masses, p. 2; in Lights of Guidance, no. 246)
The teachings are a new world of thought just beginning to be explored, and each new generation may find some greater meaning in the writings[edit]
“You Bahá’í children and young people have both great privileges and great obligations ahead of you, for your generation will be the ones to help build up a new, better and more beautiful world after the dark years of this war are passed. You should prepare yourselves for this great task by trying to grasp the true meaning of the teachings and not just merely accepting them as something you are taught. They are like a wonderful new world of thought just beginning to be explored, and when we realize that Bahá’u’lláh has brought teachings and laws for a thousand years to come, we can readily see that each new generation may find some greater meaning in the writings than the ones gone before did.”
- (From a letter dated 14 October 1942 written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi, to an individual believer; in Importance of Deepening, no. 135)
The implications of the Aqdas and the Will of Abdu'l-Bahá are too far-reaching for this generation to grasp and fully appreciate[edit]
"I consider it my duty to warn every beginner in the Faith that the promised glories of the Sovereignty which the Bahá'í teachings foreshadow, can be revealed only in the fulness of time, that the implications of the Aqdas and the Will of Abdu'l-Bahá, as the twin repositories of the constituent elements of that Sovereignty, are too far-reaching for this generation to grasp and fully appreciate. I cannot refrain from appealing to them who stand identified with the Faith to disregard the prevailing notions and the fleeting fashions of the day, and to realize as never before that the exploded theories and the tottering institutions of present-day civilization must needs appear in sharp contrast with those God-given institutions which are destined to arise upon their ruin."
- (Shoghi Effendi, World Order of Bahá'u'lláh, p. 16; also in Lights of Guidance, no. 240)
